


Face Your Fears

by littleshopofaudrey



Category: Little Shop of Horrors - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, PTSD
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-21
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-04 08:34:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24846877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littleshopofaudrey/pseuds/littleshopofaudrey
Summary: Seymour must help Audrey face her biggest fear: a trip to the Dentist.
Relationships: Audrey Fulquard/Seymour Krelborn
Kudos: 18





	1. Ouch

It was a peaceful Sunday morning. Audrey and Seymour Krelborn had just sat down to eat breakfast together. 

Audrey had listened to her neighbor friends complain time and time again about their husbands choosing to bury their nose in a newspaper rather than engage with them in actual conversation. Luckily, Seymour wasn’t like that.

“How did you sleep?” He asked before taking a big bite of toast. It had been months since Audrey last burnt a piece and he couldn’t have been more proud of her.

“Great, actually. I don’t wanna jinx myself but here goes.” She took a deep breath. “Every night that goes by where I don’t have a nightmare, the more I think I’ve finally moved on from it all. Does that sound stupid?”

“Not stupid at all. In fact, I know what you mean.” While Audrey’s nightmares usually consisted of abusive ex boyfriends; Seymour’s nightmares usually consisted of man eating plants. Despite the glaring differences, each understood where the other was coming from.

She smiled sympathetically. “It’s been awhile for you too, hasn’t it?”

Seymour nodded. “To be honest, I can’t even remember when my last one was.”

“I guess it really does just take time.” She took her first bite of toast and yelped, grabbing the side of her cheek.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” Seymour asked, alarmed.

Audrey tried to play it off, a little confused herself. “Oh, uh, nothing. I just bit my tongue, that’s all.”

He gave her a sad look. “Are you okay?” 

“Mm hm, sorry if I gave you a fright.” She took a sip of water and tried not to think about the pain that was slowly fading.

They continued to talk about Seymour’s work, new articles in Audrey’s magazines etc.

Seymour glanced down at her plate. “Aren’t you gonna eat your toast?”

“Oh, I think I lost my appetite.” She replied, still thinking about the throbbing coming from the right side of her face.


	2. Panicked

That evening, Audrey barely touched her dinner. Seymour noticed she only took about five or six bites before being unable to continue. “Audrey, please tell me what’s wrong.” He said softly while placing his hand on top of hers,

Casually trying to play it off, she asked “What do you mean?” 

“You barely touched your breakfast this morning and now you’ve left most of your dinner.” She looked embarrassed, struggling to answer him. “You know that you can tell me anything.”

In a small voice reminiscent of a child, she mustered the courage to tell her husband the truth. “My tooth hurts…” She told him as she held her cheek.

“Your tooth?” So that’s why she hadn’t been eating. “Well, don’t worry, we can fix that! All we have to do is make an appointment for you at the dent-“ He stopped his sentence dead in its tracks, suddenly realizing.

Audrey was relieved that he understood. “I haven’t been to a dentist since him, I don’t think I can, Seymour.” She couldn’t even bring herself to say Orin’s name.

“Oh, Audrey.” He wrapped her in an embrace while tears fell down her cheeks as she tried desperately not to think about her ex boyfriend. “I know how scary the idea of going back to a place like that must be for you.”

“I-I just can’t go back to a place like that and be around those tools and, gosh, that big chair. The things he did to me in that chair, Seymour…” That was her breaking point. Whatever tears she had tried to hold back fell freely as her breathing became staggered.

“Audrey?” She began to sob and gasp desperately for breath, placing her hand over her chest. Seymour looked into her eyes and saw a combination of confusion and pure terror. “Audrey?!”

She couldn’t successfully catch her breath to answer him.

Think, Seymour! Think! Suddenly, he morphed from Clark Kent to Superman and realized what was happening to her.

He held her face in his hands. “Audrey, look at me! Just focus on me. I want you to steady your breath, okay? Breathe in for four seconds and out for four seconds, I’ll do it with you. Ready?” 

Desperately, she nodded, still unable to use her words.

“Breathe in: one, two, three, four.” She shakily copied him. “Now, breathe out: one, two, three, four.”

They did this together several times until finally, her breathing had regulated and she began to calm down.

She looked at him in amazement that he found a solution. “I thought I was having a heart attack, Seymour.”

“Come here.” He wrapped her in his arms and stroked her hair. “It wasn’t a heart attack, sweetie. It was a panic attack.”

She looked up at him with wide, brown eyes. “A panic attack? I’ve never had one of those before. It was so scary.”

His heart broke for her, it was times like these that Seymour reminded himself that the world was indeed a better place without Orin Scrivello DDS. “It’s over now, you’re okay.”

“I can’t even think about him without something like that happening.” She still couldn’t bring herself to say his name.

Continuing to stroke her hair, he tried to ease her mind. “It hasn’t even been a year since all of that happened, you still need time.”

“But if I can’t think about a dentist without having a panic attack, how am I gonna be able to actually see one?” She felt so vulnerable.

“We’ll figure it out together.” He tentatively kissed the top of her head. “Plus, I think you’re a hell of a lot stronger than you give yourself credit for.”


End file.
